Nineteenth

Following that awkward conversation they had at the rooftop, they headed back to Tamitha's laboratory to continue eating. Tamitha tried to remain calm and act normal around the fake Pearl she's with right now. All she wanted to do was to confront her, but she tried her very best to give her an angelic smile and act as if she knows nothing.

"Hey... Say, do you guys want to join me on a Saturday night?" Pearl invited. She looked around to see their reaction. Castor looked curious, Pollux on the other hand seemed to be uninterested and when she shifted her gaze to Tamitha, she was jittery, making her furrowed her eyebrow but then ignored it.

"I was planning to watch this popular band with my block mates, but I prefer to watch it with you guys! So... are any of you three free this Saturday night?" Pearl excitedly stated trying to break the ice because of its awkward silence.

Pollux and Tamitha looked at each other for a while as if they're talking with each other looks. Castor answered first because he noticed how the two were kind of hesitant to answer. "Sure, count me in!" He gave her a cute smile, exposing his charming dimples. Pearl squealed while clapping with his response. Then, now she shifted to Tamitha waiting for her reply.

The young lady does not know what to say, making her switch her gaze back and forth to Pollux and Pearl seeking answers. She scratched her cheeks and let out a nervous laugh, getting all anxious because of Pearl's puzzled look, not understanding why Tamitha's acting this way.

"Uh, I'll try to see my schedule first." She let out an awkward smile while averting her gaze to avoid eye contact.

She tried her best to keep her composure and failed miserably. She didn't know how sucked up she was at making excuses. But in her defense, she just didn't want to hang out with some fraud who probably did something to her best friend and worse enjoy a concert with her while the real Pearl is still out there prone to danger. However, she realized something... attending a concert is one of Pearl's favorite things to do, making her now question her judgment against this person. Even so, Pearl knew all too well that she doesn't enjoy attending crowded parties. This is all too confusing for her.

"Who's... who's concert are we attending?"

Pearl gave her a judging look as if telling her how could she not know who's the concert we're watching. "Well, duh! It's just the best band ever and my ultimate bias: The Strokes!" She then let out the tickets and waves them in front of everyone's faces. "OMG! I can't wait to watch them on Saturday. Please Tamitha, Pollux come with us already!" She got up from her place and approached Tamitha. She tensed up a bit when Pearl grabbed her hand and profusely begged her to come.

"A-Alright. Alright fine! I'll come." Tamitha surrendered. She sighed and looked back at Pollux, asking for help.

Tamitha's eyes filled with more confusion now. She knows how much her best friend loves this band. She's doubting herself for thinking that this person with her right now is a Flicker. How would a Flicker know so much about her best friend? However, she remembered her encounter with a Flicker. How real and convincing they were. That sent shivers to her spine, so she tried to just ignore her trails of thoughts for now and just listen to her friends' conversation.

"Come on, Pollux! Don't be a killjoy! Just come with us. It will be fun." Pearl still kept pestering him, but in return, he looked at her coldly. This time he had enough.

"Excuse me?" He arched his brows as if he got offended with what the lass said. Castor snickered on the side, trying his best to hold his laughter. He even covered his mouth to hide his giggles. His brother then gave him a death glare, making him sit properly, and tried composing himself. He let out a deep breath while closing his eyes.

Tamitha can't help but laugh at them. "Just come with us Pollux, Pearl would not let this go. Not until you say yes to her."

They left Pollux with no other choice but to agree. He sighed in defeat and rolled his eyes when she saw how the three gaped at him, anticipating his answer.

"Sure. Whatever." He hissed.

When they got to finalize everything for the concert, Pollux headed out first, ignoring everything Pearl uttered. Pearl got tired of sharing everything about the band they'll be attending on Saturday. So she decided not to wait for Tamitha anymore, who's still cleaning everything in her laboratory.

"Tamitha, I can't wait for you anymore, I'm sorry! I'm so tired."

"No problem. I'll just finish cleaning up here."

Tamitha followed Pearl heading out with her gaze before heading back to pick up all the bowls and plates they used earlier.

"How 'bout you Castor, aren't you going back to the dorm too?" Tamitha asked when she saw Castor staring at her while holding litters on both of his hands. Tamitha noticed that Castor wanted to tell her something but holding himself. "Is there something bothering you, C?"

She can't help herself but pry. "Well," Castor stated. He first threw all the trash that he's holding and approached Tamitha. "Is there something going on with you and my brother?" He confronted, making Tamitha shocked and speechless with the sudden question. The small gasped and the widening of Tamitha's eyes didn't escape from Castor.

Tamitha avoided his gaze because truthfully, she doesn't know either. She let out a nervous chuckle, keeping herself busy by cleaning up the wastes from the food they ate earlier. "Nothing... Nothing's going on between us. I just asked for his assistance for something."

"Really? Why didn't you just ask me instead? I-I mean, we're friends, right?" Tamitha felt uncomfortable that left her with no choice but, to tell the truth. She knows she can't exactly trust him yet, however she'll take this chance to get herself out of this uncomfortable situation.

"Well, here's this thing..." She doesn't know how to explain it, but she did her best. "Remember those weird letters I received last time?" She recalled. Castor nodded as a response. "I received another one just this afternoon and like the other one it has some cryptic message too, so I asked Pollux about it, hoping he'll be able to solve this one again."

She handed the letter to him, which he quickly accepted. He looked at Tamitha once more before focusing his gaze on the piece of paper. "Please don't tell this to anyone, especially to Pearl. I-I don't want her to be part of this." He just nodded, but it still fixed his gaze at the paper. Tamitha's glad he actually bought that, or simply because he's too concentrated.

"This is a code called Atbash, or also known as Backwards Alphabet Code."

"What?! Do you know it? Can you solve it?!"

"I just did." He stated while wearing those cheeky smiles exposing his cute dimples. "Oh, my gosh! How?!" Tamitha got excited and started shaking her friend to get some answers.

"Alright, come here." Castor grabbed her arms and help her settle down in her working space. He then grabbed a scratch paper and a pen, then started explaining how the code works.

"From the title itself, this code is in Backward Alphabets. Say, letter A is equivalent to letter Z, B to Y, so on and so forth." Castor explained while jotting down the letters to help Tamitha to understand the code.

A = Z H = S

B = Y I = R

C = X J = Q

D = W K = P

E = V L = O

F = U M = N

G = T

"Now, you have this guide you'll be able to decipher the message," Castor announced proudly. Tamitha could not hold herself back and hugged him out of excitement. "Wow! That made sense now. You're a genius, C! Thank you so much!" She thanked, not realizing what she did. She headed back to solving the message while it left Castor astounded.

Tamitha started mix-matching the letters to compose a word. "Holy! It works! Oh my gosh, thank you so much, C! I owe you one." The lass jumped out of her seat and whispered something that didn't escape from Castor.

"This might find us a lead about Pearl. I need to tell this to Pollux." She stated while looking at the piece of paper containing the solved message. She swiftly grabbed her sweater on the rack before running out of the room. "W-What? What does that mean? Tammy! H-Hey how am I supposed to lock up your laboratory?" Castor tried to catch up but unfortunately failed.

Tamitha ran frantically, but then a sudden realization hit her that made her slow down. She just realized that the Pearl that was in their room all alone might do something. She stopped her tracks and headed in the opposite direction and headed straight to their dorm.

She picked up her pace as quickly as possible, afraid of what that person could do at their place. She got thousands of scenarios running through her head right now, making her run furiously.

She finally arrived, panting hard, but tried her best to catch her breath. She took countless deep breaths and fixed her hair. "Alright, you got this!" She whispered to herself while fishing her keys into her pocket. When she successfully inserted the key into the door and opened it, the room greeted her with total silence. Their place was dark and quiet.

Tamitha scanned the place before heading to Pearl's room. She carefully twisted the knob, trying not to make a noise, and there she was; the impostor, sleeping peacefully. She doesn't know whether to feel relief or concern knowing that deep inside she knows that, that person is not Pearl however, it almost convinced her with that act she witnessed earlier.

She sighed and just closed the door and headed to their kitchen area to get herself a drink. 'I really need to sort this out.' She wondered to herself.